msn and Yahoo SERPs

msn, yahoo, search engine ranking

[webmktg]

I have noticed that the search results in msn and yahoo are almost same. Has anyone noticed this?

[dvduval]

Yes, this is true b/c Yahoo is providing results to MSN through Inktomi (which they bought). I might add that Yahoo and MSN results are looking a lot better lately when compared to Google.

[sit2510]

>>> Has anyone noticed this?

Yes, I just noticed that too.

I think dvduval is right, the results are from Yahoo Inktomi but I can't recall if they were ever once so similar to one another for Yahoo and MSN like this time.

It looks like MSN has dropped its own former calculating ingredients and use that of Yahoo instead.

The current MSN serp is different from those in tech preview.

[artdog]

My sites have the exact same positioning on both search engines.

[Warren]

MSN are supplied their index via Yahoo! Search Technology. However, MSN does not take the full set of results, because it does not include PFI (flat fee or trusted feed) results.

So, in highly competative industries which utlize PFI, there is going to be a difference in results where as industries which don't utlize PFI, the results will be closer.

[Bulk99]

I'm seeing quite different results on a lot of searches. Could it be MSN beta results showing, or are MSN pulling data from a different datacenter than Yahoo? Example, a search for "nasa" gives 2,5 million pages in MSN and 12,1 million in Yahoo. That can't be becasue the lack of PFI results in MSN, don't think there's 10 million PFI pages on that keyword ;-)

/B

[Warren]

There is talk that the index provided to MSN is not as fresh nor as deep as the index used by Yahoo!

I have not seen any real hard evidence of this however.

Depending the the keyword(s) used, could this difference be contribued to the way MSN handles stemming versus Yahoo!? If Yahoo! uses a more aggresive (if that is the right word) stemming approach than MSN, you would naturally see a larger set of results.

Just an idea.

[spaidermen]

I've noticed that the difference is getting bigger for any keyword I've tried (not so many though)
And you?

[spaidermen]

What's the actual pattern of differences among Yahoo! and Msn serps? They are similar but different... what are the main factors causing this discrepancy? I don't think stemming is a factor, nor index freshness is. And not even PFI. I am saying this because I've done a little research

[RobBroekhuis]

In my biased view of the world, they aren't even close to being similar - Yahoo indexes many of my pages, msn has none. On one 4-word search, Yahoo returns 329 results (including my page), msn returns 152. I've been indexed by Yahoo for quite some time now, so I don't think it's merely a lag issue.

[cleanup]

I think the difference is partly (if not all) lag.

I have a site that went missing from Yahoo! last weekend (banned I suppose, yawn..), it is however still in MSN in the same position.

I fully expect it to be missing from MSN in the comming days/weeks.

We'll see if I'm right.

[spaidermen]

My case is different. I am talking about websites that have been in yahoo index for months now. They have not been modified. They consistently show up both in yahoo.com and msn.com, but in different places, like for instance #4 in yahoo and #20 in msn

[webmktg]

I experienced the samething with my rankings. Yahoo and msn were showing different results. Anyway Yahoo and msn removed all my websites recently. We are still investigating about what went wrong.

Any commnents?

[cleanup]

That site I mentioned above that went missing from Yahoo! about two months ago this week apears missing from MSN..

Like I said, lag is the reason for most (if not all)
the difference.

[RobBroekhuis]

I've been getting just about all of my traffic from Yahoo for at least three months now (after Google dropped most of my pages). Still not even a trickle from MSN, so if it's a lag issue, it's a very lengthy one.
Rob

[spaidermen]

Like I said, lag is the reason for most (if not all)
the difference.

I am still unconvinced. Yet, this could be true only if the tile-lag is beyond three months

[jnmconsulting]

I have seen the MSN and Yahoo serps the same since early september for my sector.

[minnapple]

msn has been slower that yahoo with the new data, but recently it is slower than usual.
Could be a signal of the pending msn search launch.

[GerBot]

I'm seeing MSN beta search results showing on search.msn.com.

But a also agree that the other search.msn.com index is an older version of Yahoo.

That being said some of Yahoo's data last week was older than that it had supplied to MSN.

don't you just love this game :)

[spaidermen]

How old?